The ‘Behind the Headlines’ service from NHS Choices has featured a quality assessment of press reports that there has been a “rise in abortions among mothers denied morning sickness drugs,” (The Independent and others; April 18th 2011).  The reports state that according to experts, “doctors are failing to treat morning sickness … contributing to a three-fold rise in the number of women admitted to hospital with severe nausea and vomiting in the past 20 years” (reported by The Independent).

The authors of the assessment note that the reports were based on a review written by two GPs and published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology.  The review discusses the prevalence of severe nausea in pregnancy and how it is currently managed in the UK, drawing comparisons between UK treatment and that in the US and Canada.  The authors of the assessment say that this is a well written review, but stress that it is not a systematic review and should be viewed as the personal opinions of the authors, supported by some recent evidence. 

The review suggests that the UK should introduce advice that is in line with American and Canadian guidelines for the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, including the suggestion that pyridoxine should be considered as part of the initial, standard treatment.  The assessment points out that NICE considered the evidence for pyridoxine when preparing its clinical guideline on antenatal care and concluded that issues about toxicity of pyridoxine at high doses have not yet been resolved, which is why they chose not to recommend its use.  The assessment also points out that although the quoted statistics show an increase in the number of women admitted to hospital with morning sickness, they do not show (as the news coverage suggests) that more women are having abortions because of morning sickness or that there is evidence of treatments being withheld.